Wild Card: News

Big Pig Problem in U.S.

N.C. mans kills wild boar exceeding 500 pounds

Jeff Webb killed this enormous wild hog, which weighed at least 500 pounds, on hunt-club land in Bertie County on Feb. 28. (Mike Mansell photo)

By: Mike Suchan, OutdoorChannel.com

America has a big pig problem – lots of them, including a number of giants.

There are more than 6 million wreaking havoc in the U.S., with Texas topping the list with a troubling 2 million. Feral hogs cause billions of dollars in property damage each year, running around in packs devasting farmland.

One of the larger ones was shot on Feb. 28 by Jett Webb of Conetoe, N.C. On a scale for tobacco bales that was certified to 500 pounds, the wild boar bottomed it out.

“It was a true beast!” said Michael Mansell, president of the White Oak Ranch Hunting Club where the pig was taken. Check out the rest of the story in North Carolina Sportsman.

Wild boar made headlines a decade ago starting with Hogzilla, a male hybrid of wild hog and domestic pig that was killed by Chris Griffin in Alapaha, Ga. Its size was exaggerated to 1,000 pounds, but that was debunked. It was still big at 800 pounds.

Soon after a youth killed what became known as Monster Pig, a true 1,000-pound pig. The hunt was exposed and the canned hunting operation took plenty of heat as its owners had recently purchased Fred, the overfed domestic swine.

Webb’s boar is the real deal, and he and other White Oak members had been hunting for it, and any other hogs, on their tract in the Roanoke River Swamps since they began seeing them six years ago.

“We have pictures of him going back to 2011. He was a hard one to get on the ground for he moved around a great deal,” Mansell said. “These hogs are smart.”